DETAILED ACTION
This is an allowance of application 17800024.
Claims 1-26 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 22-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a as being anticipated by MOEBIUS DE 102012020052.
Claim 1, Moebius discloses wherein a wind turbine [fig. 1] with a floating foundation [fig. 5], a tower 10 arranged on the floating foundation, and two booms [20/22], extending from the tower 10, with an energy conversion unit [24/26] that is arranged in each case at a free end of a boom and has a rotor [28/30], wherein an auxiliary tower 32 with a rope system [34/36/38/40], connected to a winch [not shown but on top of turret 32], for lifting the energy conversion units that are connected by the booms to the tower of the wind turbine. See figs 1-5
Claim 2, Moebius discloses a slipway 66 which is arranged adjacent to the auxiliary tower 32 and holds the floating foundation. See figs 7-9
Claims 22-26, As per method claims it has been held wherein the apparatus claim is rejected and had all the limitations of the method claims then it can inherently be constructed from the method steps.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moebius et al.
Claim 20, Moebius discloses the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, he does not explicitly disclose a harbor with a quay and the apparatus which is attached to the quay in a floating manner. However, this is well known in the art and of ordinary skill in transport of wind turbines to use cranes on a quay wall to erect the turbine. Thus, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains to use the said set up to erect a wind turbine.
Claim(s) 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moebius et al.
and further in view of Laurens WO 2013113377.
Claims 14-18, Moebius discloses the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, he does not explicitly disclose a block and tackle which is arranged in the auxiliary tower and communicates with the winch or lifting limitations with a crane boom. Laurens discloses these limitations in figs. 12-20, Thus, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains to have combined the disclosures to attain the said means for erecting a wind turbine.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-13, 19, 21 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/JOVON E HAYES/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/S. Joseph Morano/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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